Homemade Ravioli with inside-out Amatriciana

Amatriciana sauce is very Italian. The recipe is traditionally from Amatrice, a nice village not very far from Rome.

Usually you have spaghetti or penne with amatriciana sauce. This is made out of tomatoes, cheek lard and pecorino cheese all together.

Here Mr M achieved the same flavour using the pecorino cheese as filling for our ravioli, instead of together with the sauce itself. I. LOVED. IT.

HomeMade Ravioli with Amatriciana Inside-Out

Homemade Ravioli with inside-out Amatriciana

Ingredients

These are the quantities for Pasta Dough with a 500 gr of flour.

Pasta Machine – Homemade Ravioli

Pasta Dough

500 gr Flour

5 eggs

3 egg yolks

half tsp. of salt

bunch of semolina

Filling – Pecorino Cream (for 2 people)

35 gr butter

35 gr flour

125 gr whole milk

150 gr pecorino cheese, grated

Amatriciana Sauce (for 2 people)

2 tbsp. olive oil

200 gr peeled plum tomatoes

70 gr cheek lard or bacon

half glass of white cooking wine

Method

Prepare the pasta dough first.

Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the salt and mix it.

In Italy the ratio is 1 egg every 100 gr of flour. Because in UK the eggs are much whiter than in Italy, we add more egg yolks to have a nicer colour, 2 egg yolks might be enough. It depends on the colour, basically.

Make a well in the centre of the flour.

Beat the eggs and pour into the well. Beat the eggs yolk on the side and add this a little at a time if dry or too pale.

Stir together, forming a ball.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding remaining flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking.

Cling film it and let rest for 45/60 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the Amatriciana sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a pan on a low/medium heat.

Dice the cheek lard and when the oil is nice and warm add the cheek lard to the pan.

When the lard gets translucent, pour in the wine and simmer until it is all evaporated.

Then, add the plumed tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are all smashed up.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the filling cream.

In a pot, melt the butter on a low heat.

Add the sieved flour and mix it thoroughly.

In another pot, warm the milk until it is simmering.

Add the milk to the butter and flour mixture and mix it all together keeping the mixture on a low heat .

When everything is well incorporated, add the grated pecorino cheese and mix it.

Cook for another 4/5 minutes until it gets creamy and well incorporated.

Once the pasta dough has been resting enough, cut a portion of the dough the size of a fist and flatten it with your hands.

Dust your hands in flour if you find the dough is sticking.

Form a rectangle and roll it down to about 5mm.

Set the machine to the largest setting “1″ and begin feeding the dough through with one hand while you crank the machine with the other.

Roll the dough through a few times until it’s smooth and uniform.

Move to the next setting “2″, and again roll it through two times.

Progress in this way, rolling the dough twice through each setting until you reach the thinnest level.

At this point the dough should be thin, yet pliable.

Trim the rough edges on a cutting board, and cut in half to create a top and bottom sheet.

Spoon some filling on the bottom sheet. The spacing depends on how big you want the ravioli to be.

Ring the filling with egg wash and then place the top sheet on it.

Press down the top sheet to seal the two together.

As you seal it, make sure to squeeze out all the air.

Cut the raviolis into squares and lay them in boiling water for 3-4 minutes.

If you prepared the ravioli in advance, and/or the boiling water is not ready, spread some semolina on top of them to avoid them to stick.

You can usually “feel” when they are ready because they start floating in the water.

Once they are ready, drain them and pour them in the tomatoes pan for 30 seconds/1 minute.